How to: Delete or Remove a Project
You can delete projects permanently, remove them from a solution but keep them, or unload projects from a solution temporarily. The procedure for taking projects out of solutions or deleting projects permanently is simple. However, the project type determines the outcome for your project and the items that it comprises. Removing, deleting, and unloading projects involve different degrees of disassociation from the solution.
You might need to remove, delete, or unload a project from a solution under the following kinds of circumstances.
You must move a project from one solution to another solution.
You must permanently delete an obsolete project.
Important
You can't delete the files of a project by using Visual Studio. You can delete all references to a project from a solution by using Visual Studio, but you must use File Explorer to delete the associated files from your computer.
You must temporarily remove a project from a solution so that you can exclude the project from a build.
As with other commands, the actual outcome depends on the project template that you used to create the project. You can look in Help for more information about the specific project template that you've used.
Removing a Project from a Solution
You can remove a project from a solution without erasing the project files from storage.
To remove a project
In Solution Explorer, choose the project that you want to remove.
On the menu bar, choose Edit, Remove.
You can add the project to the solution again or add it to other solutions because the project still exists in storage.
Deleting a Project Permanently
You can delete a project permanently but not by using Visual Studio. You must remove any references to the project that you want to delete from solutions in Visual Studio, and then you must use File Explorer to delete the associated files from storage permanently.
To permanently delete a project
In Solution Explorer, choose the project that you want to delete from the solution.
Important
You should close and delete web projects by using File Explorer.
On the menu bar, choose Edit, Remove.
In File Explorer, choose the files that are associated with the project that you want to delete.
On the menu bar, choose File, Delete.
Removing a Project from a Solution Temporarily
In some cases, you might want to unload the project from the solution temporarily.
To temporarily unload a project from a solution
In Solution Explorer, choose the project that you want to unload.
On the menu bar, choose Project, Unload Project.
Note
You can reload the project at any time by, on the menu bar, choosing Project, Reload.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Unload and Reload Projects